STAKEHOLDERS URGE FG TO COMMUTE DEATH SENTENCES AS NIGERIA MARKS 10 YEARS WITHOUT EXECUTION

By Aishat Momoh. O.

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s justice sector and representatives of foreign missions have called for a moratorium on executions and the commutation of existing death sentences to life imprisonment, as the country marks 10 consecutive years without a state execution.

The call comes amid concerns over the growing number of inmates on death row, with the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) recently disclosing that 4,329 persons, including more than 82 women, are awaiting execution in custodial facilities across the country.

The NCoS made the disclosure during an event marking the 2026 World Day Against the Death Penalty, where it acknowledged the need for national action on capital punishment, including possible constitutional amendment.

“Everybody in our custody has a story, and the way we treat those stories says a lot about our society,” the Comptroller-General of the NCoS, Sylvester Nwakuche, said.

Observed annually on October 10, this year’s World Day Against the Death Penalty event was organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Avocats Sans Frontières France, also known as Lawyers Without Borders, with support from the Australian High Commission, the German Embassy and the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria.

Participants at the event called for an official moratorium on executions and the commutation of existing death sentences to life imprisonment.

Nigeria’s last known state execution took place on December 23, 2016, when three death row inmates were executed in Benin City, Edo State.

The executions drew condemnation from Amnesty International, which noted that one of the inmates, Apostle Igene, had been sentenced to death by a military tribunal in 1997 without an opportunity to appeal the verdict.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, SAN, said capital punishment presented a constitutional dilemma, given the provisions protecting the right to life and human dignity.

He noted that Section 33(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, guarantees the right to life but provides an exception for executions carried out pursuant to a court sentence. Meanwhile, Section 34(1)(a) guarantees the right to dignity and protection against inhuman or degrading treatment.

Ojukwu said the Supreme Court had affirmed the constitutional validity of capital punishment in Onuoha Kalu v. The State (1998) 13 NWLR (Pt. 583) 531 and reaffirmed the position in Joseph Amoshima v. The State (2011) 14 NWLR (Pt. 1268) 547.

However, he argued that the legality of the death penalty did not remove the obligation to uphold fair-trial guarantees under Section 36 of the Constitution.

He identified inadequate access to pro bono legal representation, forced confessions and prolonged pre-trial detention as factors that could undermine justice.

Ojukwu said Nigeria’s decade without executions amounted to a de facto moratorium but warned that thousands of inmates remained on death row for prolonged periods.

He cited Section 12(2)(c) of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019, as well as the constitutional powers of mercy vested in state governors under Section 212 and the President under Section 175, as mechanisms that could be considered in addressing the situation.

The NHRC called for three immediate policy measures: the formal adoption of an executive moratorium on executions, systematic consideration of commutations by state governors, and a review of mandatory death penalty provisions to allow judges to consider mitigating circumstances and individual vulnerabilities during sentencing.

Across Africa, the debate over capital punishment has continued to evolve. According to figures presented at the event, 28 of the African Union’s 55 member states have abolished the death penalty in law, while 20 maintain long-term moratoriums on executions. Seven countries, including Nigeria, were identified as retaining and using capital punishment.

German Ambassador to Nigeria, Stefan Rössel, described Nigeria’s 10 years without an execution as an important milestone, although the death penalty remains part of the country’s laws.

“Germany opposes the death penalty unconditionally. Working towards its permanent abolition is a pillar of our human rights policy,” Rössel said.

He cited Germany’s experience, noting that the last execution on German soil took place in 1981 and that Article 102 of the German Constitution explicitly abolishes capital punishment.

The ambassador said the debate raised fundamental questions about justice, human dignity and the protection of life, while acknowledging the suffering of victims of serious crimes and their families.

He also warned that wrongful convictions could have irreversible consequences when the death penalty was imposed, adding that prolonged periods on death row and evolving understanding of mental illness raised further concerns.

“Ultimately, we need to ask ourselves: do we want to live in a society in which the state is tasked to take a human life?” he asked.

Rössel said Nigeria’s decade without executions should be recognised as a milestone, adding that refraining from capital punishment was a sign of strength rather than weakness.

Similarly, the Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Leilani Bin-Juda, described the 10-year period as a significant milestone that should prompt reflection on the country’s progress and the next steps towards reform.

She urged Nigeria to build on the achievement, describing capital punishment as cruel, inhumane and degrading.

Spain’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Félix Costales Artieda, said his country opposed the death penalty under all circumstances and for every crime.

He described the right to life as inalienable and argued that there was no evidence that executions had reduced crime. He also cited figures indicating that 130 people sentenced to death in the United States had been exonerated and released from death row since 1973.

Costales Artieda urged Nigeria to take appropriate measures to commute the sentences of inmates currently on death row.

The Country Head of Avocats Sans Frontières France, Angela Uwandu Uzoma-Iwuchukwu, said the organisation had undertaken several projects to promote the right to life and advocate an end to capital punishment in Nigeria.

She said the organisation had represented more than 1,000 people through its Right to Life project.

Citing the case of Arthur Angel, who spent 16 years in prison, including 10 years on death row at Enugu Prison, before his release in 2000, Uzoma-Iwuchukwu said the possibility of judicial error made the death penalty particularly troubling.

“Arthur Angel spent 16 years in jail for a crime he did not commit,” she said.

She argued that capital punishment disproportionately affected disadvantaged people who could not afford quality legal representation.

According to her, some death row inmates had been represented by inexperienced lawyers, including members of the National Youth Service Corps, while errors made during trial could prove difficult to correct on appeal.

She also cited the case of Sunday Jackson, a farmer sentenced to death after claiming self-defence and later pardoned by the Adamawa State Government.

The stakeholders urged Nigeria to use the 10-year period without executions as an opportunity to review its capital punishment policy, address the prolonged detention of death row inmates and consider further steps towards abolition.